Outlet receptacle



Ari! 7, 936.- w. H. FABREY ETAL 2 36,519"

' OUTLET RECEPTACLE Filed July 2, 1931 n a .5 u 1 m a 0 4 4 a. w I a M am m. 1/ WW "W n a w Patented Apr. 7, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICEOUTLET RECEPTACLE Application July 2, 1931, Serial No. 548,451

I V 3 Claims. (Cl. 173330) The present invention relates to electricalout- I9, 20, and 2| communicating respectively with let receptacles, andhas for its principal purpose to provide a receptacle body member andcontact member having interengag'ing means for holding 5 the two membersin assembled relation.

Heretofore, it has been a customary practice to mount the contactmembers freely in recesses provided in the body members, the operativerelationship of the two members being mainlo tained by a mountingyokefor the receptacle. Prior to the actual mounting of the receptacle,consequently, the members were apt to become disassembled. M I 7 Anotherpractice has beento secure the'body -15 and contact members together bymeans of screws or screw-attached clips.

According to, thef present invention, the body,

and contact members are provided with mutually engageable means readilybrought into operative 20 relation upon assembly and effective tosecurely maintain the relation of the parts, the improved arrangementbeing no more expensive to produce than the less satisfactory devices ofthe prior art.

5 The invention also relates to simplified screw anchors utilized inuniting the receptacle body members and wall plates.

As illustrative of the invention, we have shown it in the accompanyingdrawing as applied to a 30 duplex receptacle. It is to be understood,however, that the invention is not limited in its application to thisspecific type of receptacle.

In the drawing: Figure 1 is a face view of a receptacle embodying thepresent invention,

Figure 2 is a side elevation of the receptacle,

Figure 3 is a rear View of the receptacle,

Figure 4 is a rear View of the receptacle par tially assembled,

Figure 5 is a section on line 55 of Figure 1,

Figure 6 is a section on line 66 of Figure 1,

Figure 7 is an elevation of a contact member or conductor barconstructed in accordance with the present invention, and

45 Figure 8 is an elevationof a screw anchor forming part of theinvention.

Referring to the drawing, reference numeral l indicates generally a bodymember of insulating material whose end portions Illa, I (ll) areprovided with service openings ll, l2, l3, and I4 for the reception ofthe usual type of plug, the intermediate body portion being inwardlyoffset as at IS, The end portions of the body member have rearwardlyextending boss portions l6 and 5 ",Figs. 2, 4, and 6, Provided withrecesses l8,

the service openings II to M. Between the boss portions It and II, thebody portion has a further rearwardly extending boss 22 spaced some-What from the first mentioned boss portions. 5 The boss portion 22 hasparallel side walls 23 and 24 terminating upwardly in inwardly extendingrecesses 23 and 24', these recesses being formed in the sides of theintermediate body member portion I5.

Recesses I8 and 26 are aligned longitudinally of the body member, andthe walls of the boss portions are provided with aligned kerfsintersecting the recesses so that the walls of recess I8 present agroove 25 and an opposite slot 26 in alignment with a groove 2'! and aslot 28 in j the walls of recess 20, the bottoms of the slots andgrooves forming ledges lying in the same plane. The walls of recesses l9and 2| are similarly slotted and grooved.

Boss portion 22 is provided with a central slot 29 extendinglongitudinally of the body member, the slot having a centralsubstantially cylindrical enlargement 30. Boss portions l6 and I! haveend recesses 31 and 32.

Two conductor bars of identical form are provided, one beingparticularly shown in Figures 4 and 7; The bar is composed of a strip ofspring metal 33 having integral angularly projecting contact fingers 34and 35 adjacent its ends and jlying substantially in the plane of theadjacent strip portions. Intermediate the contact fingers, the mountingstrip is offset as at 36 and provided with an ear or protuberance 31projecting in the same direction as the contact fingers and having anextremity 31', Figure 5, bent in the opposite direction to the offset.The offset portion is provided with tapped apertures at the sides of ear3'! which receive terminal screws 38 and 39.

In assembling, the contact fingers are inserted in the recesses l9 and2|, Figure 4, with the ends of the conductor bar engaged in the groovesof the recess wallsjand the portions of the bar between the contactfingers and the bar offset engaged in the slots of the recess walls. Theoffset portion of the conductor bar projects externally of the bosses inthe lateral recess existing between the latter and the bent portion 31of the ear 31, the bar yielding outwardly, is slid along the side wall23 of boss portion 22 until it springs over the seat 23. As theextremity of the preformed bent portion 31 rides along wall 23, thefreely projecting ear flexes so that undue distortion of the contactstrip proper is prevented.

When the two members have thus been interengaged, T the end portions ofthe conductor bar sented by the body member so that the contact; stripis held against longitudinal displacement relative to the latter. Thescrews 38 arid 39 lie in the spaces between the central and outerbosses. It will be understood that the parts can be disassembled byprying the ear 3'! out of recess 23- and reversing the assemblyoperation.

It will be understood that the second conductor bar is assembled inexactly the same manner as the first, its ends being engaged in grooves25 and 21 directly at one side of the contact fingers and. in slots 2%and 2% directly at the other side of the contact fingersf It will beevident thatethe con-.- ductor bars being thus gripped, their. portionswithin the recesses are held against lateral movement, although theirfree intermediate. portions may be sufficiently flexed to engage theears with the seats. Due to the provision of each recess with the slotand groove forv thus gripping the conductor bar; it will be evident thatif desired the conductQr' 'bar may be made with only one contact finge1for use in a simple receptacle. In other words, the conductor bar asshown in Figure '7 might be centrally and transversely out, as in thesectional view of Figure 5, since, upon being mounted as aboyedescribed, its tail portion would be permitted to flex under therestraint of the portion adjacent the contact fingers which would beheld against lateral movement.

In the illustrated embodiment of the invention, it will'be noted thatthe jack blades are,engageable between the contact fingers and the sidewalls of the boss recess. Consequently, the mounting strip :or bus barportions at Ithe fingers tend to be deflected inwardly upon theinsertion of the blades, this deflection being opposed by the edges ofthe slots and grooves on the opposite sides of the mounting stripsfromthe blades. Furthermore, since the contact fingers, as may be clearlyseerg from Figure 6, are spaced from the walls toward which they flexwhen engaged by the jack blades, they may flex freely pastthe planes ofthe end portions of the contactstrips.

A metal yoke 40 has legs ll and 42 receivable in recesses 31 and 32 andcarries an insulating plate 43 of a shape to cover the rear portion ofthe receptacle. The yoke and insulating plate have registering slots inregister with the slot 29 of boss 22, a screw anchor 44 being passedthrough the registering slots. I

The screw anchor 34 is composed of a bifurcated fiat metal strip havinga T-head 45 at its closed end, the inner edges of the bifurcations 4 6and 47 each being provided with a series of serrations 46 and 47, theserrations of the one series being in staggered relation to theserrations of the other series so as to be adapted to engage the threadsof a screw on diametrically opposite sides thereof. The bifurcations aresomewhat convergent toward their free ends so as to be expanded upon theengagement of a screw therewith. The anchor has a thickness less thanthe diameter of the 00- operating screw and is readily formed in itsentirety in a single stamping operation.

The anchor being inserted in the registering slots of yoke 40,insulating plate 43 and boss por= tion 22, with its head abutting theyoke, is adapted to be engaged and spread by a screw 48, Figure 5,passed through the face plate '39.

While we have shown and described a specific embodiment of theinvention, it will be understood that many modifications are possiblewithout departure'from the scope of the invention, and, accordingly, wedo not limit ourselves except as in the following claims.

We claim: i l

1. A duplex receptacle comprising a one-piece body member provided withpairs of service openings in its front face and rearwardly openingrecesses behind said service openings and communicating with the latter,said body member having rearwardly open lateral recesses in its centralportion, there being rearwardly open slots connecting the ends of saidlateral recesses with said rearwardly opening recesses, a pair ofcontact strips each having angularly project: ing contact fingers at itsend portions, said strips being arranged on edge withtheirmedialportions in said, lateral frecesses' and their end portions in saidrearwardly opening recesses with said contact; fingers operativelydisposed in the latter relative to said service openings, said stripsbeing closely engaged in said slots between the end;and medial portionsof the strips, said lateralrecesses having wall portions extendinglongitudinally of the body members forwardly of said contact strips andterminatingforwardly in inwardly directed ledges; said contact stripshaving freely forwardly projecting integral medial portions withinturned ends engaged over said ledgesjto' hold said strips againstrearward displacement; said freely projecting portions beadapted to flexwhen upon assembly of the contact strips with the body member from therear of the latter,'said inturned ends being preformed, the extremitiesof saidends ride over said longitudinally extending wall portions, suchflexing preventing undue distortion of said contact strips. r r

2. A duplex receptacle comprising a one-piece portions in said lateralrecesses and their end portions in said rearwardly opening recesses withsaid contact fingers operatively disposed in the latter relative to saidservice openings, said kit eral recesses having wall portions'extendinglongitudinally of the body members forwardly of said contact strips andterminating forwardly in inwardly directed ledges, said contact stripshaving freely forwardly projecting integral medial portions withinturned ends engaged over said ledges to hold said strips againstrearward displacement, the body member also having abutment portionscooperating with the edges of jecting contact fingers at its endportions, said strips being arranged on edgewith their medial saidinturned ends tohold said contact strips against longitudinaldisplacement relative to said body member.

3. A duplex receptacle comprising a one-piece body member provided withpairs of service openings in its front face and rearwardly openingrecesses behind said service openings, said body member havingrearwardly open lateral recesses in its central portion and havingrearwardly open slots connecting the ends of said lateral recesses withsaid rearwardly opening recesses, said slots being spaced from the sidewalls of said rearwardly opening recesses, the end walls of saidlast-named recesses having grooves opposite said slots and spaced fromthe side walls of said last-named recesses, conductor strips disposed onedge with their medial portions in said lateral recesses and with theirend portions disposed in said slots and in said rearwardly openingrecesses, the extremities of said strips being disposed in said grooves,and contact fingers on the end portions of said strips in saidrearwardly opening recesses, the blades of a cooperating jack insertedin a pair of said service openings being engageable with pairs of saidfingers, lateral deflection of the conductor strip portions at theengaged fingers being opposed by the edges of the grooves and slots onthe opposite side of the conductor strips from the engaged blades,clearances existing between the contact fingers and the side walls ofsaid rearwardly opening recesses to enable the fingers to be forcedfreely beyond the planes of the conductor strips when engaged by theblades.

WILLIAM H. FABREY.

JOHN WEBER.

